How to Get Your Offer Noticed

You have found the Mercer Island home of your dreams, and the time is right. It’s time to put in your offer to buy that home. So what now? Many people assume that an offer is an offer, and in the end it all just comes down to dollars. That may be true in many circumstances, but in today’s market it may take a lot more than a whole bunch of zeros to get your offer accepted. Don’t get us wrong, if you have a bunch of zeros to add to the offer that will definitely help! Many people will say the most important thing in real estate is location, location, location, but the other rule is “cash is king.” That said, here are five (and a half) things that you can do to help your offer for your perfect house stand out to the seller in a multiple-offer situation: 1) Cash really is king. Sellers want quick and painless sales, and more money can help that along. If you are able to put more money down and/or use a larger earnest money deposit that may help. Of course, if you have the means to buy the whole thing with cash, that’s the best! * A larger earnest deposit will indicate that you are serious about the house and are willing to risk a little more money (though there are many ways to help protect your earnest money) to show you mean business. * A larger down payment makes sellers feel more confident that you will be able to get the rest of the purchase financed easier, making closing significantly more likely. 20% is great, but if you have the ability, putting 30% or more down will really wow the seller. * If you have the cash, indicate that you do not need financing to purchase the home. Without financing, home purchase take significantly less time to close (10 to 14 days instead of 30 to 45), with little fear that the buyer will back out because they can’t get the financing or the house doesn’t appraise for the full offer price. In the end having cash, and in this case flashing it around like a big spender in Vegas, will definitely help your case. With that being said, most of us don’t have that kind of cash. So for all you big money people you can probably stop reading now. For the rest of us, here are a few more things you can do. 2) Know the seller. As a real estate agent I have found that a lot of my job is finding information. Whether that information pertains to the home, the neighborhood, the city, or the people involved in the transaction, it is important to know as much as possible. The more you know about the seller’s situation the more you can tailor your offer to them. Do they need a quick sale because they have already bought their new home? Are they looking for someone to take care of their home and love it as well as they did? Do they not care about any of this and just want the best price? All of these scenarios are common, and most times there are several at play. A good agent can tailor your offer to satisfy these people, and should also be good at getting as much information out of the listing agent, or the sellers themselves, as possible. 3) Keep it simple, stupid. In today’s market, offers that have a lot of contingencies are going to get pushed aside for ones that are “cleaner” (or ones with little or no contingencies). For instance, do you really need 10 days to do an inspection? With the right planning it should only take a few days. Or do you even need an inspection at all? Many inspectors will do short notice pre-inspections for you. These tend not to be as detailed, and will cost you no matter if you put in an offer or not. But if you are satisfied with the condition of the house, a seller will be much more likely to accept your inspection contingency-free offer. (Especially since most sellers know that buyers tend to renegotiate price based on what an inspection reveals). Yes, most of us don’t have enough money to keep paying for inspections for homes that you may not even put in an offer for. If you really want the house that is a risk you take. It would be better to have some sort of inspection, which costs a few hundred dollars, versus buying a house that has something severally wrong which can cost tens of thousands of dollars. 4) Get pre-approved for a loan. If you have the cash and don’t need financing, well why are you still reading this? The rest of us will need to get financing for a house. This can be a long process, so the more you have your finances in order up front, the better. Speak to the lender early on and go through the application process before you even start looking for a house. They will get you a pre-approval letter, which states that you qualify for a certain amount. Sellers will like to see this so they know that you have done your homework, can afford the house, and are serious about buying. 5) A personal note (aka “love letter”). You have done all your homework/research. You know what the sellers are looking for, and you know what you love about the house. Use this information and write a note to the sellers. Tell your story and how this house fits into it. In today’s real estate market, most sellers only see the offer; a few pages of words and numbers. The humanity has been taken away. A note showing why you are interested in the property differentiates your offer from the others. It puts a person into all the numbers. This may not make a difference to those only wanting the most amount of money, but you just never know what could make the difference if your offer is the same as someone else’s. We have heard many times of a seller who took a lower offer because of what was said in the letter! 6) Ask your agent to personally present your offer in person if possible. We know, we said we would only do 5, but we thought this point was important, too. Call it 5B. As mentioned above, the personality factor has gone from the offer system. Putting a name and face to an offer can really help. If your agent is able to present the offer to the seller in person, they have the opportunity to answer any questions that the seller may have about you and/or your offer. It is important to note, however, that most listing agents do not want to allow this to happen. (In a multiple offer situation, it would be difficult to schedule all the different agents!) That said, you have nothing to lose by asking your agent to give it a try! In a more typical, healthy market, most homes only have one or two offers on them. This information is less useful in that kind of market. But today’s market is considerably busier, especially in the Puget Sound area. With 10 or more offers being common in the most popular areas, it is important to do everything you can to get your offer to the top of the pile! Sometimes your offer will be blown away by someone with way more money/cash than you (or any number of other factors). In that case, you just move on. But don’t let a house that you love slip away because you/your agent did not do what it takes to make your offer the best it can be! With all of today’s technology, personality seems to have been taken out of the home buying process. Make sure that you put the personality back in and give the offer your best shot to get the edge on your next home.